Jets Just Miss Out On Awards

Once again the Winnipeg Jets came up frustratingly on the short end of a desired result in Las Vegas.

Three Jets were named finalists for the annual NHL awards that were handed out Wednesday night, but two finished second in voting (the Mark Messier award doesn’t get voted on) and two more Jets also picked up votes on the night.

Jets General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff finished second in voting to the Golden Knights George McPhee as the league’s top GM.

Also placing second in his award voting was Connor Hellebuyck who missed out on the Vezina trophy for league’s top goaltender. The winner was Pekka Rinne who should maybe be thankful voting didn’t factor in playoff games…

Blake Wheeler named as a finalist for the Mark Messier Leadership award which goes to the player who leads the league in leadership as selected by the leadingest leader in all of leadership, Mark Messier. Wheels lost out to unofficial Vegas Golden Knight captain Deryk Engelland.

Connor Hellebuyck and Blake Wheeler also factored into the MVP voting. Wheeler finished eighth with one first place vote and a nice total overall. Hellebuyck placed 13th.

And the duo of Helle and Wheels aren’t leaving Las Vegas completely empty handed as they were named to the NHL’s second all-star team.

Rookie Kyle Connor missed out being a finalist for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie despite leading the league in goals scored by a rookie with 31 and finishing fourth in rookie scoring with 26 assists. Tonight we found out just how close he was as he was as he finished fourth in voting.

Imagine being the guy who thought Yanni Gourde deserved a first place vote over any of the top four.

Also finishing fourth in award voting was Jets head coach Paul Maurice who was a distant fourth compared to the three finalists, but to be honest no one had a chance against the story that was Gerard Gallant out in Vegas.

One other award that a Winnipeg Jet got a vote in was the Selke for top defensive forward and it was Mark Scheifele who earned one single fifth place vote.